Paper Details

Name: Rakesh Thakur & Mannat Brar
Country: India

Year: 2025
Volume: Volume No: 12, Issue No: 2, Year: 2025
Page Number: 60-68
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20605076

ABSTRACT
This paper examines the complex intersection of gender parity and Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) in India through an integrated socioeconomic lens. Despite India's impressive
economic growth and constitutional commitments to equality, gender disparities persist
across multiple domains, presenting significant challenges to achieving SDG 5 (Gender
Equality) and related goals. The paradoxical decline in women's labour force participation—
from 30.3% in 1990 to 20.3% in 2023—during a period of substantial economic expansion
and educational gains exemplifies the multidimensional nature of gender inequality in the
Indian context. This analysis employs an interdisciplinary theoretical framework drawing
from feminist economics, capability approach, and intersectionality theory to illuminate how
sociocultural factors interact with economic structures to shape gender outcomes. The paper
identifies critical disparities in education, health, workforce participation, and asset
ownership, highlighting significant regional variations and implementation gaps in policy
frameworks. Economically, closing India's gender gap in labour force participation could add
approximately $700 billion to the country's GDP, while addressing disparities in access to
finance, land ownership, and care infrastructure would yield additional dividends across
multiple development indicators. However, conventional economic metrics often fail to
capture the full value of gender equality investments, particularly regarding unpaid care work
estimated at 40% of India's GDP if monetized. The findings demonstrate that effective
interventions must simultaneously address both economic barriers and social norms through
coordinated policy approaches. This paper concludes that achieving gender parity in India
requires recognizing it not as a peripheral "women's issue" but as a fundamental development
challenge with profound implications for the entire society and economy. The
recommendations emphasize strengthening implementation mechanisms, expanding women's
asset ownership, investing in care infrastructure, ensuring women's safety and mobility,
promoting inclusive digitalization, and developing gender-responsive data systems to support
evidence-based policymaking.
Keywords: Gender parity, Sustainable Development Goals, labour participation,
intersectionality, capability approach, feminist economics